Strange how things work out...

A few days ago I tried to include Google AdSense to the blog I've set up for Bonnett's Book Store, the business my family has operated since 1939. Naturally, I thought the move might be an easy way to garner some extra income. After all, who couldn't use a little extra money these days? Google turned down the application because of "Difficult site navigation." My first thoughts on this were not happy. Google owns Blogger, where I've housed the blog. I'm using a template offered to me by Blogger. How in Hell can they reject the application due to "Difficult site navigation?"

Google offered some clues by steering me to the AdSense FAQ, ToS, and Guideline pages. It soon occurred to me that the phrase "Difficult site navigation" referred to the conglomeration of a few rather unfortunate coincidences...

First, I had created this blog as a personal space some time ago. I decided that it might be convenient to add my ID for this blog as an admin for the Bonnett's Book Store blog. There is very little in my life that isn't somehow related to work, so it stands to reason that I might find things I want to post to the store blog when playing around with my personal blog. However, this blog hadn't been used yet, so I had inadvertantly linked to an essentially empty page, placing the store blog into a state of "Difficult site navigation."

Add to that, this. Since my earliest days in online communities, some 12 years ago, I've found some joy experimenting with unusual forms of dialogue. It just so happened that I was bored the night I created the blog you are reading now, but I didn't really have anything to say at that time. So, in the description section I chose to free associate. Free association of words tends to look a lot like the kind of BS pulled by irreputable sites for the purposes of attracting page views by including popular search strings, completely unrelated to their product, in their web pages. Thus, my free associated description is likely a primary reason for being turned down.

Also, the AdSense information suggests that I should get relevant sites to link to my sites, as if they have anything to lose by placing ads on my page if few or no people are seeing it. I guess this is the part that has me miffed. If I have no or few readers and they are serving ads on my page, the only likely event is that they'll never have to send me any money for a click. When, conversely, any clicks made through my site would most likely be more likely to pay off due to greater interest in relevant advertising found on a low traffic site.

Anyway, I guess I'll have to try again later when, or if, the two blogs start to take off.